Toy comprising a model of a perpetuum mobile

ABSTRACT

A TOY RESEMBLING A SO CALLED PERPETUUM MOBILE WITH A WHEEL PROVIDED WITH TILTABLE ARMS ROUND ITS PERIPHERY WHICH ARMS HAVE WEIGHTS AT THE OUTER ENDS THEREOF AND ARE ADAPTED TO MAKE A TILTING MOVEMENT WHEN THE WHEEL ROTATES, GIVING THE IMPRESSION TO DRIVE SAID WHEEL BECAUSE OF SAID TILTING MOVEMENT. THE WEIGHTS ARE CONSTITUTED BY PERMANENT MAGNETS WHICH HAVE POLES OF ALTERNATING POLARITY. FOR DRIVING SAID WHEEL, THERE IS AN ELECTROMAGNETIC MEANS FOR PRODUCING A ROTATING OR LINEARLY MOVING MAGNETIC FIELD BUILT IN OR HIDDEN IN A BASE PLATE BELONGING TO THE TOY. A PERMANENT MAGNET WHICH CAN BE PLACED ON SAID BASE PLATE SO AS TO GIVE IMPRESSION OF ATTRACTING SAID MAGNETS OF SAID WHEEL, IS ADAPTED TO OPERATE A SWITCH HIDDEN IN SAID BASE PLATE FOR CLOSING THE CURRENT PATH FROM THE BATTERY (ALSO HIDDEN IN SAID BASE PLATE) TO SAID ELECTROMAGNETIC MEANS.   D R A W I N G

E. s. LJUNGDAHL 3,717,951

TOY COMPRISING A MODEL OF A PERPETUUM MOIHLF Feb. 21, 1913 Filed April 50, 1971 in &

i\ L l United States Patent O 3,717,951 TOY COMPRISING A MODEL OF A PERPETUUM MOBILE Erland Samuel Ljungdahl, 9 Fafnerstigen, 18264, Djursholm, Sweden Filed Apr. 30, 1971, Ser. No. 138,950 Int. Cl. A63h 33/26 US. Cl. 46243 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A toy resembling a so called perpetuum mobile with a wheel provided with tiltable arms round its periphery which arms have weights at the outer ends thereof and are adapted to make a tilting movement when the wheel rotates, giving the impression to drive said wheel because of said tilting movement. The weights are constituted by permanent magnets which have poles of alternating polarity. For driving said wheel, there is an electromagnetic means for producing a rotating or linearly moving magnetic field built in or hidden in a base plate belonging to the toy. A permanent magnet which can be placed on said base plate so as to give impression of attracting said magnets of said wheel, is adapted to operate a switch hidden in said base plate for closing the current path from the battery (also hidden in said base plate) to said electromagnetic means.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The thought of designing a perpetually operating machine which is capable of running without supply of energy from an outside energy source has long been occupying the minds of machine designers. The' invention relates to a toy which seems to be such a perpetually operating machine and which is designed in the same way as a classical perpetuum mobile.

SHORT SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a toy comprising a model of a perpetuum mobile of the type which has a wheel pivoted for rotation about a horizontal axis, and provided with a number of arms, each of said arms being rotatably pivoted with one end thereof to said wheel, at a certain distance from the rotational axis of the wheel, the other end of each arm carrying a weight, the rotational movement of each arm in one direction being limited by a stopper fixed to said wheel, wherein said weights of said arms are magnet rods, the magnetization direction of said rods being parallel to the periphery of said wheel, the polarization directions of said rods being alternately reversed so that said rods repel each other, there being driving means mounted in and hidden in a base plate belonging to said toy said driving means generating a moving magnetic field in the path of said magnetic rods said moving magnetic field imparting a rotational movement to said wheel by successively attracting and/or repelling said magnetic rods.

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a toy according to the invention, a part of its base plate being broken away.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory detail view of the device illustrated in claim 1.

Complete specification of an embodiment of the invention with reference to the drawing:

As illustrated in the drawing, the toy according to the invention comprises a wheel 1 which is pivoted for rotating movement about a horizontal axis 2. The axis 2 is carried by two bearing brackets 3, only one of said 3,717,951 Patented F eb. 27, 1973 brackets being shown. The bearing brackets 3 are fastened to a base plate 4.

The wheel 1 is provided with a number of arms 5. In the embodiment shown there are sixteen such arms. Each arm 5 is pivoted to the wheel with one end thereof by means of a pin 6 or the like. At the other end, each arm carries a weight 7 in the form of a permanent magnet, the magnetization direction of which .is substantially parallel to the periphery of the wheel 1. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the poles of the magnets 7 are so arranged relative to each other that two adjacent magnets repel each other.

The tilting movement of each arm 5 is limited in one direction by a stopper 8 against which the arm falls down after that said arm during the rotation of the wheel 1 has passed the most elevated point of its movement path. Thereafter, the arm rests against said stopper during the whole downwards movement.

In the embodiment shown each arm 5 abuts against a stopper 8 also during the upwards movement because, as shown in FIG. 1, in the lowermost point of its movement path, it leaves the contact with one stopper and is brought to rest against another.

However, each arm 5 has a substantially radial position relative to the rotational centre of the wheel at that side of the wheel where the arms are moving downwards, but at the other side, where the arms are moving upwards, it makes a greater angle with that radius of the wheel which passes the pivot point of said arm.

By choosing a suitable size and magnetization strength of the magnets the arms 5 will not be prevented to perform their natural movement during the action of the gravitation force. The magnets 7 generate a magnet field which at some distance outside their path of movement gives a rotation of the magnetical field vector with one revolution for each pair of magnets which passes. If an outer rod magnet is placed within said field and is oriented that way that the poles of said magnet coincide with the plane of the wheel, a mutual action of forces is obtained, which tends to turn the fields in that way that said fields substantially will occupy the same direction. If now the outer rod magnet is rotated about an axis which is parallel with the axis of the wheel, the wheel will be brought to rotate with an angle corresponding to the passing of two weight magnets 7 for each revolution of the outer magnet.

Because of the fact that said outer magnet may be relatively small, it may, together with a driving mechanism, suitably an electrical motor with a suitable gearing mechanism, be mounted in and hidden in the base plate 4 or in any other base of the toy which. carries the visible part of the toy. Because of the fact that the energy consumption is very small when the movable parts are properly mounted and adjusted, the primary energy necessary for the driving may be obtained from a dry battery which also is mounted and hidden in said base plate.

In the embodiment shown, such an outer magnet is shown and designated by the reference numeral 9. It is mounted on an axis 10 which is driven in a rotational movement with suitable speed by a motor 11 which preferably is provided with a suitable reduction gear.

As an alternative to a rotatable outer permanent magnet, a stationary electromagnet or a group of such electromagnets may be provided for obtaining a suitable force action on said weight magnets. Said electromagnets may comprise one or more magnetization coils located in said base plate and supplied with current pulses of a suitable phase and with suitable polarity so that a magnet field which varies with the time and also with the room is obtained and which is similar to the field in a conventional synchronous or step motor, and in which said field is actuating the adjacent weight magnets of said wheel. The

suitable phase of said current pulses may be obtained either autonomously for example by the controlling of a transistor multivibrator or controlled by a sensing means, for example an induction coil or a Hall probe which is influenced by the field from the weight magnets.

For starting and stopping the driving mechanism there is preferably a contact spring group or a so called reed relay mounted and hidden in the base plate 4 which is arranged in that way that it is influenced by a permanent starting magnet which, when it is placed in the vicinity of such relay, closes the current path from the battery. If this magnet is located at a suitable distance from the path of the weight magnets, said magnets will be influenced in that way that one gets the impression that the start magnet forms a part of the driving mechanism for keeping the wheel in rotation.

In FIG. 1 there is diagrammatically shown a battery 15 the one pole of which is connected to a stationary contact spring 16. A movable contact spring 17 is in the position shown in contact with said stationary contact spring 16. This is because of a ferromagnetic member 18 fastened to the free end of the movable spring 17 which is attracted by one pole of a permanent magnet 19 which is bent as an angle and which is located on the top side of the base plate 4 in that way that said pole of the magnet is above said ferromagnetic member 18. The other pole of the permanent magnet 19 is located near to the path of movement of the weight magnets 7 as illus trated. A non-magnetic block 20 fastened to the upper side of the base plate 4 determines the position of the permanent magnet 19. When the permanent magnet 19 is removed from the position shown the movable contact spring 17 is moved downwards by spring force so that it leaves the contact with the fixed contact spring 16, whereby the current path from the battery 15 to the motor is broken.

What I claim is:

1. A toy comprising a model of a perpetuum mobile comprising a base plate; a wheel mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis; means extending from said base plate for supporting said wheel; a plurality of arms; means for mounting one end of each arm to said wheel for pivotal movement about an axis located at a predetermined distance from the rotational axis of the Wheel whereby each arm is capable of a rocking motion relative to said wheel; stop members fixed to said wheel and located between said arms for limiting the rocking motion of each arm; a weight member at the other end of each arm, each said weight member comprising a magnetic rod arranged to provide magnetic lines of force in a direction generally parallel to the periphery of the wheel, said rnagnetic rods having north and south poles at opposite ends and the polarization directions of adjacent rods being alternatively reversed so that said rods repel each other; and means mounted in a hidden manner in said base plate for driving said wheel comprising an electric motor having a shaft rotating about a horizontal axis and a permanent magnet mounted on said shaft for generating a rotating magnetic field which imparts a rotational movement to said wheel by interaction between the rotating magnetic field and the magnetic field of the magnet rods mounted on said arms.

2. A toy according to claim 1 further having an electrical battery mounted in a hidden manner in said base plate, and circuit means for connecting said electric motor to be powered by said battery.

3. A toy according to claim 2 wherein said circuit means includes a normally open switch including a member of magnetic material, and permanent magnet means adapted to be removably mounted on said base plate in proximity to said switch to close said contacts when said permanent magnet is appropriately positioned on said base plate.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1958 Anthony 40-53 R 

